Zoro leaned back on his hands. "I doubt it'll make much of a difference now. I've lost just about everything else, anyways."
"Well," Luffy began.
"Wait, wait, wait," Sanji interrupted. "Can we get out of the kitchen first? I don't like having marimo's ass all over my countertops."
Zoro frowned, but hopped off despite the fact, throwing the tattered remains of his shirt to the ground. "Your countertops?"
Sanji gathered himself up, standing straight as he got into Zoro's face. "Yes, my fucking countertops. I'm the chef, so this is my shitty kitchen, and my shitty countertops!"
"This is an abandoned hotel with four people and a dog living in it! Just because you can heat up a few cans of beans doesn't make you a chef!" Zoro gritted his teeth and glared back at Sanji. He hardly knew the guy and he was already close to just throwing him out to the zombies.
But at Zoro's last comment, Sanji's eyes grew wide.
"Uh-oh..," Luffy muttered as he moved to cower behind an irritated-looking Nami.
Sanji didn't falter at Luffy's obvious fear. "Look, you shit swordsman. I was the fucking chef in this place long before zombies even existed. I ran this kitchen; I fed hundreds of guests. This kitchen is all I've got left, and I owe it to the shitty old geezer that for some reason let me step foot into this kitchen to make sure it stays what it once was for as long as possible!" He took a deep breath. "And no idiot swordsman is going to stop me!" The man finished with heaving breaths. "Get. Out."
Zoro wanted nothing more than to unsheathe his swords and unleash his full fury on the blond, but his common sense told him otherwise. He knew what it was like to lose everything, they all did. Besides, he was the newcomer; he was intruding on Sanji's space. Zoro took a step back and nodded.
"C'mon, Luffy," He said. "You can tell me in the lobby."
Luffy nodded, skirting around Sanji carefully as he lead Zoro out of the kitchen.
"Guys," Called Nami as they were going through the door. "I'm gonna stay here with Sanji."
Luffy only nodded again without turning around, but Zoro glanced around, only to see Sanji bracing himself on a counter as he fought back obvious tears.
Zoro admitted to himself that he felt like shit for challenging Sanji on such a personal level, and promised that he would make amends for it once the man was calmer. He patted his leg. "Come, Moki."
Moki sat up and followed with a yawn, limping behind Zoro and Luffy as they left the kitchen.
Zoro followed Luffy into the lobby, which, aside from the carefully replaced furniture in the center of the room and the debris swept to the side, was a wreck. As they neared the couches and chairs, Moki went to curl up on the couch next to Zoro while Luffy, for some reason, stretched out his legs on this floor and leaned back on his hands.
"Sanji really cares about this place. He doesn't talk about why much, just that his foster dad owned it," Said Luffy quietly. "Apparently, his dad was a really awesome chef like Sanji and started the hotel with his friend. His friend ran the hotel part while Sanji's dad ran the restaurant part."
"What happened to them?" Zoro asked carefully.
Luffy shrugged. "I dunno. That's all Sanji's ever said." The boy's eyes brightened. "But Sanji sure can cook! Even with little stuff we have."
Zoro smiled, secretly pleased that Luffy's appetite hadn't changed. That was one of the boy's signature traits back when things were normal. "So," He said. "How did you end up here? With Sanji and Nami?"
"Well, Ace and Robin and me drove for a really long time, but the car ended up messing up and we lost control of it. We were okay, so we just got our stuff and left."
Zoro nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I came across that."
Luffy continued. "We travelled on foot for awhile and got pretty far, but then Robin got really sick. She said it had something to do with drinking bad water." The boy frowned. "We should've been more careful. Anyways, Robin... She didn't live long after that. It was really awful, the way she died."
"I don't want to know," Zoro said quietly, stroking Moki's fur.
"So it was just me and Ace for a few days, then we met Sanji and Nami. Apparently they had met at the hotel back when Sanji worked there; Nami was a guest. We all stayed here, but Ace got all antsy, so he just took off and left one day. We haven't seen him since."
Zoro sighed. "Well, at least we're back together again."
Luffy nodded, then looked confused. "But wait... If you were traveling west, too, you should have been way farther than New Jersey by now."
Zoro's face flushed. "I, uh, got sidetracked."
"You got lost, didn't you?" Luffy fell into barks of laughter, holding his gut and rolling on the floor. "All you had to do was follow the sunset!"
"Well, it's only there for so long!"
Luffy only continued laughing while Zoro fumed, eyebrow twitching in irritation.
"Shut up, will you? You're being too damn loud." Came a voice from the kitchen doorway.
Both Zoro and Luffy turned to Sanji; Luffy slowly inched to hide behind the couch in fear.
"H-Hey, Sanji. When's dinner?" Asked the boy.
"Gimme fifteen minutes with no whining and it'll be done. Why don't you go show Zoro where we sleep?" Sanji suggested, seemingly okay with a cigarette dangling between his lips and his hands shoved in his pockets.
Luffy stood enthusiastically with a nod. "Kay! C'mon, Zoro!"
Zoro gave the chef a questioning look that Sanji ignored if he noticed it, but before any more could be done Luffy was dragging Zoro up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway.
I'm proud to say that I didn't wait three weeks to finish this chapter. I forgot to add tiny details last time, like whatever happened to Zoro's shirt as he got stitched up and how he was still in New Jersey after a couple months of supposed traveling, but I included stuff like that in this chapter. Once again, not much action; It's just getting into backgrounds and the past. I hope you guys enjoyed the newest installment.
Oh, and your reviews are SUPER wonderful. Thank you, guys, so much!
(Let's maybe keep them coming, eh? The feedback is helpful.)